Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/117871
executive director of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United, at a morning strike rally outside of Sutter Solano. ���They way they treat nurses is such a disgrace. Not too long ago, nurses had very little. We���re not going to go backwards. We���re only going forward.��� Many area nurses view the Sutter contract fight as a preview of the types of concessions their employers will be demanding in upcoming contract negotiations. They came out to the strike lines in support partly because they said that if Sutter succeeds in setting these bad precedents, they will likewise have an uphill battle. ���You guys are an inspiration to us,��� said Gina Macalino, a Kaiser Permanente RN and a member of the CNA board of directors. ���You���re fighting the fight that we���ll be fighting in 2014.��� Sutter nurses said that the corporation���s pursuit toward boosting profits and cutting costs does not result only in these contract takeaways and poor staffing levels, but has permeated down to even how the facilities fail to stock basic supplies that the nurses need to do their jobs. To save money, Sutter hospitals have adopted techniques that auto manufacturers use to keep inventories low. But Mike Hill and Millie Borland, RNs at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, say this ���just-in-time��� stocking practice has grown ridiculous. They recently described running out of toilet paper (they had to poach from staff restrooms), bedpans, all types of linens like pillow cases and towels, normal saline bags, and medications. Alta Bates Summit has also cut so many pharmacy staff that nurses are having to wait two to three hours for medication orders to be filled, endangering patients and causing unnecessary suffering. Their hospital has also slashed housekeeping staff to the point that it is failing to properly clean patient rooms, a huge risk for infection and other complications. Hill said that, to his horror, one patient several months ago discovered feces on a bed rail. ���The hospital is filthy,��� said Hill. ���They���ve cut back so far on housekeeping staff that they can only do a superficial clean because that���s all they have time for.��� For all these reasons and more, Sutter registered nurses say they will continue to fight with energy and passion for themselves, and their patients. ���Staff report A P R I L | M AY 2 0 1 2 Nurses Push to Save San Leandro Hospital Though a failed legal challenge has thrown the future of San Leandro Hospital in jeopardy, nurses refused to give up and staged an action May 2 to confront the hospital���s CEO about whether the hospital would be kept open for the good of the community. CNA nurses have already been fighting more than four years to save the facility, which Sutter Health wants to close despite its critical role as a full-service local hospital serving more than 27,000 emergency room patients a year. RNs convened at Eden Medical Center, San Leandro���s sister campus where CEO George Bischalaney keeps his office, to present him with a letter signed by nurses opposing the closure and to question his intentions for San Leandro Hospital. Bischalaney refused to meet with the dozens of nurses present and instead agreed to see only one RN representative, telling her he would have to discuss the matter with people ���above��� him. ���My parents live in San Leandro and they���re 85 and 90 years old,��� said Elena Ballock, an ER nurse at Eden and a nurse negotiator for both campuses. ���I���m worried that if they fall ill, they���ll have a long trip to an emergency department. And as an ER nurse at Eden, if we add 27,000 more ER visits, I���m not sure what will happen. I think it���s a disaster waiting to happen.��� Many of the nurses agreed that closing San Leandro Hospital would have a harmful ripple effect across many surrounding communities, not just the city of San Leandro. ���I don���t think the community understands the impact that closing San Leandro will have on their health,��� said Carol Barazi, a surgery RN at San Leandro. ���It���s not a San Leandro issue. It���s an Alameda County issue.��� ���Staff report W W W. N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N AT I O N A L N U R S E 7